Silver Medal Sochi 2014

My 4 year Olympic cycle is complete and I have walked away with a Silver Medal and could not be more satisfied with the result.

Sochi was a wonderful adventure and as spectacular as I expected it to be.
The Vancouver Olympics were an experience for me, it was overwhelming and eye-opening for me and I was there to enjoy myself being thrilled just to be a part of it all.
Sochi, I was there to win. I had dedicated another 4 years on top of what I originally thought would be the end of my career and I was going to make sure it was worth it.
I spent my energy on myself whilst being as supportive as I could of our whole Olympic team but my focus was on my big day.

With a few sessions of training canceled due to warm weather I was reminded of Vancouver but was far more prepared this time around getting all of my skills done ahead of time and having the day off before the competition.
Competition training went as expected, it was horrible and normally is but after 4 bad jumps and training about to finish I had a full freak out that I just wasn’t getting it together and I couldn’t believe it had to happen today after training well all week. I was quickly reminded that for the last two years this has happened before every competition and that today was no different than any other day. After calming down I snuck in one last training jump 5 minutes before the end and it was perfect.

What happened next unfolded in the only way it could have to achieve a podium for me. My first jump qualified equal first as my competition brain kicked in and everything just started going right. Already I had achieved more than my 13th place in Vancouver and that was a real weight off my shoulders. Being one of the last to jump in Final 1 meant that we were able to watch the other jumpers and decide what jump we would do at the end depending on the results. It was simple, there were 12 of us and I only had to beat 4 people, the 4th person crashed their jump just before I went, and as I was preparing to do my quad twist, my coach radioed up and told me to change the jump I was going to do. I performed a triple twisting triple flip, and we knew all I had to do was land and I would make it through. That’s what I did and at that moment I knew I had a real shot at making the podium due to being able to save my harder jumps for the last rounds.

I landed and made it through quickly having to get up there for the next jump which would be a quadruple twisting triple flip, my favourite and “easiest” one which I landed and waited to watch if I could make it into the top 4 for the super final. Three jumpers beat me and suddenly I was in the last round just as we’d planned the day before and it was unfolding flawlessly.

My coach and I had discussed that we’d need to downgrade at some point, and risk that round in order to have a real shot at getting through, it happened at the right time and the rest of it happened like I have been imagining it to for the last 4 years.

My last jump was one I have done 5 times this year, I relied on my water training to kick in and natural instinct to help me land and once again landed it cleanly and I’d done everything I could to put myself in the best position for a medal.

I was beaten by Anton Kushnir one of my favourite jumpers, this was no surprise to me and I was humbled to be beaten by an amazing quintuple twisting jump. The two Chinese let in the final outdid themselves and couldn’t land, I knew instantly what was about to be announced and could not believe that everything had just happened as we’d hoped.
I had won an Olympic Silver Medal, the first in men’s aerials for Australia, the 3rd medal of the Olympics and the 12th Winter Games medal ever for my country.
To top it off I was honoured with carrying the Aussie flag in the closing ceremony, another part of the epic adventure which was the Sochi 2014 campaign.

Thank you all of you who have supported me leading into this, without the help I have received, without the encouragement and belief I would not be complete and this would not have been possible. The medal belongs to all of you as we are a team and I’m proud to have you as part of mine.

Now I will rest a few months, recover and no doubt quickly get bored and start again. In the moment it all happened I wasn’t sure I could take any more, but as the days tick over I remember how much I love doing what I do and I’m already back bouncing on trampolines.
Always more to come!

Hey David Glad to read how you coped with the pressure of the olympics and would love if you could send some encouragement for my daughter Finn who is about to compete in the 2014 Diving age Nationals down in Melbourne april 11 -13. She has won the 1m title in 2012 and 2013 but is currently struggling to cope with limited training due to on going ear issues and the perceived pressure of expectation from family, friends and coaches. Like yourself she usually turns it on in comps with consistent performance’s the key but at present has lost a great deal of confidence after some splats in training.
Regards Andrew Dunstan ex whitefriars teacher

Good to hear from you once again! It’s been a while, and thanks for following the adventure!
To Finn,
The only pressure you have is the pressure you put on yourself. It’s ok to fail sometimes, because it’s part of learning, if you want to get better you have to be prepared to lose also. Everyone loses, I did as well, and my family were there to watch on some really bad days too. Each time something goes wrong, you just need to remember to learn from it and use it as a positive. If you mess up a dive, figure out what went wrong, and then next time you will have that knowledge, also by doing bad dives you will get better at knowing what to do when things go wrong.
You will only get nervous and freak out if you think you have to impress everyone. But you don’t have to impress people, your family and friends and coaches already are impressed, they know what you can do. So just go out there and do what you can do, if it doesn’t work, then maybe it will at the next competition, if it goes well, then that’s what everyone thought anyway.
I had the same problem two years ago, worrying about it all, my coach told me that – it isn’t lucky that I do well, it’s not a surprise when I have a good day. I do well and get results because I am trained. I do nice jumps, because I’ve practised and that’s what I do normally. I never “hope” i’m going to do well… I’ve been training to do well and automatically do things the right way. if you can convince yourself that you already know how to do it right, then you will just go out and do your thing and be great.

To David,
I would just like to congratulate you on an outstanding achievement at Sochi Winter Olympics 2014! You’re a huge inspiration to young athletes with the dream of placing in an Olympic. It’s amazing that someone in Australia could be so dedicated in a sport that Australians don’t have much chance in due to our climate. You proved Australia wrong and put a smile on everyone’s face because they were proud of the achievements you pulled off. I don’t think my dad could ever be so proud of one of his students; the smirk couldn’t be whipped off his face with him telling everyone possible that you were his student. Your quick 10 minute response has helped me gain confidence and get everything into perspective. I truly appreciate your advice and couldn’t thank you more. Thank you very much.